Hi all, I think I have a new lead! Here’s what I did: 1. cd /tmp/guix-build-binutils-mesboot0-2.14.drv-0/binutils-2.14 2. env -i bash --rcfile environment-variables 3. Ran the configure command from the log, just to check: ./configure --disable-nls --disable-shared --disable-werror --build=i386-unknown-linux --host=i386-unknown-linux --target=i386-unknown-linux --with-sysroot=/ --prefix=/gnu/store/jfa9b78rdniyw7qilsmw3bh02x8x68ly-binutils-mesboot0-2.14 Indeed it did still output "not updating unwritable cache ./config.cache” However, when I tried `test -w config.cache`, there was no status code… This led me to look at ./configure’s shebang, which is: /gnu/store/m89p469fxwn4hj7an9givd1ry9vk7j2l-bash-mesboot0-2.05b/bin/sh Then I did: /gnu/store/m89p469fxwn4hj7an9givd1ry9vk7j2l-bash-mesboot0-2.05b/bin/sh -c "test -w config.cache” Which _did_ exit with status=1 ! So I believe that this is a problem with the “test” builtin in /gnu/store/m89p469fxwn4hj7an9givd1ry9vk7j2l-bash-mesboot0-2.05b So I ran: env -i bash --rcfile environment-variables -c 'strace -v -e trace=file /gnu/store/m89p469fxwn4hj7an9givd1ry 9vk7j2l-bash-mesboot0-2.05b/bin/sh -c "test -w config.cache”' And the output: execve("/gnu/store/m89p469fxwn4hj7an9givd1ry9vk7j2l-bash-mesboot0-2.05b/bin/sh", ["/gnu/store/m89p469fxwn4hj7an9giv"..., "-c", "test -w config.cache"], ["PWD=/tmp/guix-build-binutils-mes"..., "SHLVL=0", "_=/usr/bin/strace"]) = 0 [ Process PID=2049037 runs in 32 bit mode. ] open("/dev/tty", O_RDWR) = 3 stat("/tmp/guix-build-binutils-mesboot0-2.14.drv-0", {st_dev=makedev(0, 0x2f), st_ino=2546749, st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_nlink=3, st_uid=1000, st_gid=1000, st_blksize=4096, st_blocks=0, st_size=80, st_atime=1608079054 /* 2020-12-15T19:37:34.095396729-0500 */, st_atime_nsec=95396729, st_mtime=1607635957 /* 2020-12-10T16:32:37.842047431-0500 */, st_mtime_nsec=842047431, st_ctime=1607636165 /* 2020-12-10T16:36:05.793930344-0500 */, st_ctime_nsec=793930344}) = 0 stat(".", {st_dev=makedev(0, 0x2f), st_ino=2546749, st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_nlink=3, st_uid=1000, st_gid=1000, st_blksize=4096, st_blocks=0, st_size=80, st_atime=1608079054 /* 2020-12-15T19:37:34.095396729-0500 */, st_atime_nsec=95396729, st_mtime=1607635957 /* 2020-12-10T16:32:37.842047431-0500 */, st_mtime_nsec=842047431, st_ctime=1607636165 /* 2020-12-10T16:36:05.793930344-0500 */, st_ctime_nsec=793930344}) = 0 stat("config.cache", 0xfff9affc) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) +++ exited with 1 +++ I had a hunch that the mode is most likely the problem. So I tried the following: chmod 664 config.cache -> status is still 1 chmod 646 config.cache -> status is now 0!! So somehow the “test” builtin for my bash-mesboot0 doesn’t think that it has owner or group permissions to write to a file that itself created? Let me know what you guys think could be the case! Cheers, Carl Dong